The price for exotic woods must be skyrocketing!

I've owned an HOS ebonized Dubrovnik set since it first came out about a year and a half ago. I love the set and was considering getting another one in a lighter wood tone for the dark pieces.

I was excited to hear that they've begun offering a version of the Dubrovnik in blood rosewood, but was shocked to find that the blood rosewood set is more than TWICE the price of the ebonized or the sheesham version of the same set. In fact, you could buy both the ebonized and sheesham versions of this set, and still have $50 left over. YIKES!

Chess USA says that there are several names for that wood.

Crimson Rosewood Chess Pieces

We carry an amazing selection of chess sets that should fit any need. If you are looking for hand-carved wooden chess pieces, we have you covered. Crimson Rosewood is an exotic and rare hardwood with a wide range of coloring from a deep red wine color to a light red tone. These chess pieces have several names including red chidar, blood rosewood, and budrosewood. They are an excellent alternative for someone interested in the most elite of chess pieces with a powerful unique grain not seen in Ebony sets. Crimson Rosewood pairs well with most chess boards that are either very dark or have reddish colors - we recommend Wengue, Macassar, or Mahogany. These sets are paired with traditional boxwood. 

There is another forum post that said that blood rosewood pieces from HOS look nothing like the pictures because a certain type of wood, red sandalwood, has been banned from import to the USA because it is endangered species. 

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/blood-rosewood-sets-from-house-of-staunton

Indian police kill 20 suspected red sandalwood smugglers

• 7 April 2015
• From the sectionIndia

Police in India's Andhra Pradesh state say they have killed at least 20 suspected red sandalwood smugglers.

The shooting came when loggers attacked police and forestry officials near the holy town of Tirupati, police said. Police are accused of excessive force.

Most of the suspected smugglers were from neighbouring Tamil Nadu state.

Sandalwood smuggling is rampant in southern India, with a tonne selling for tens of thousands of dollars on the international black market.

The tree is prized for its rich red wood, mainly for making furniture, and is not to be confused with the highly aromatic sandalwood trees that are native to southern India.

Senior police official M Kantha Rao told the AFP news agency that policemen challenged a group of more than 100 smugglers who were cutting down trees in the remote forests near Tirupati early on Tuesday.

Image captionVeerappan, India's biggest sandalwood smuggler, was killed in 2004

"Our police party warned them to hand over the logs. They were accompanied by forest officials as well. But the smugglers refused to hand over the logs," he said.

A forestry official said the woodcutters attacked the police with axes, sticks and stones in two separate areas of the state.

Police said 20 bodies had been recovered in the Seshachalam forest. Eight suspected smugglers were injured.

Killings questioned

Most of those killed are believed to be Tamils and there was an angry reaction in Tamil Nadu to the killing.

Chief Minister O Pannerselvam demanded an investigation and the National Human Rights Commission said there had been a "serious violation" of human rights.

"Firing cannot be justified on the ground of self-defence since it resulted in the loss of lives of 20 persons," it said in a statement.

VS Krishna, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Forum, said an earlier "gun battle" with loggers had turned out to be "one-sided firing" by police.

"They surrounded the workers deep in the forest, having every opportunity to take them into custody, but instead fired straight away, killing several of these workers," he told AFP news agency.

Correspondents say the loggers are often tribespeople or other poor migrant workers from Tamil Nadu.

India banned the sale of red sandalwood in 2000.

In 2004, police in Tamil Nadu shot dead one of India's most notorious sandalwood smugglers, known as Veerappan.

 // If 20 men died bringing you that wood, the $449 price might be cheap.

We need "Bloodized" alternatives.

I'm not exactly sure what species of wood that HOS is using in this, and other sets, but it doesn't look like red sandalwood, which darkens very quickly when exposed to oxygen or sunlight, as you can see from the pictures of my one and only red sandalwood set, which was acquired legally from a domestic dealer who was closing out his remaining stock of NOS sets that he had purchased before the embargo).

As has been discussed in other threads in this forum, botanically, there's no such species as "bud" or "blood" rosewood. They're catch-all phrases for a number of different red hued woods, but mostly padauk. I have six sets that were sold as padauk, blood rosewood or bud rosewood. I keep all the sets in boxes when not is use, yet each has darkened over time. I did love their redish-orange hues when new, but, like puppies, they will change with age. Personally, I love the deep burgundy hue of my red sandalwood set. Unfortunately, the pictures above don't show the subtle details that reveal themselves in natural sunlight.

In closing, here's a picture of some antique red sandalwood furniture from China. Not sure of the age. Notice the similarity in color with the chess pieces above.

An India manufacturer would be able to shed light on the difference if any from padauk/budrosewood/blood rosewood/sandalwood.  

I don't know, Mike. We both know that companies like Chess Bazaar and House of Chess are merely clearing houses. They're buying their sets from a host of different carvers and turners working from small shops all over the region. These people don't have the time to go around chopping down trees, so they're getting their wood from god-knows-who. Probably a lumber broker who's getting it from the guys who go around harvesting trees. Most of it is probably legal, some of it may not be. Who knows. With so many different species of redish woods, your guess is as good as mine as to the exact species. Because of all this, it's easier for the companies selling us the sets to simply catagorize the type of wood by color -- bud rosewood, blood rosewood, etc.

Padauk is easy to spot by its distinctive grain pattern (although there are 7 different species of padauk). They actually make high frequency, vacuum kiln specifically for processing padauk and red sandalwood. Check the following link for details. The process seems tos shrink the wood (adding density) and compresses the open grain pattern making it less noticeable.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/wood-drying-system-red-sandalwood-red_600394024.html?spm=a2700.7724838.38.10.o8X2mN

¿Do not exist a process similar to "ebonizing" to obtain reddish tones?

Robert, there probably is. The red Dubrovnik sets that Chess Bazaar offers are probably using a red stain, a similar process to ebonizing. Perhaps they should call the process "redenizing." The original staining process they used for these sets was, to be kind, less than successful, with lots of red fingers (and toes if you play like a chimp, I meant chump!).

None of the blood/bud rosewood or padauk sets that I own, or have seen, appear to be stained, as the stain would lock in the color and prevent the pieces from darkening over time, which is what has happened to all my "originally" reddish/orange sets. 

As an example, let's look at the 'Bud Rosewood' Encore set I bought from the House of Chess about 2 years ago, the first picture is from their website. The second, the same set photographed about 6 months ago. And, if anything, the set has slightly darkened since then. Comparing the two photos says it all -- as it ages it's starting to look more like a red sandalwood than a padauk.

BEFORE...

And AFTER: